Nowadays, in specialized laboratories, where tests are carried out on specimens of biological material of patients, the need to prepare refrigerated stores, where the aforesaid specimens can be temporarily stored in a circle along the automated laboratory system, is increasingly felt.
The subject stores must be adapted to ensure adequate preservation of the biological samples contained in test tubes, in anticipation of their future reuse for a subsequent series of tests, possibly even after several days since their collection.
The Applicant has already filed an earlier patent EP 2240787 related to a store which meets the above requirements. Reference shall therefore be made to such a patent for a comprehensive overview of the features of the equipment described therein.
Such a patent, in particular, shows the interfacing of the above store with a portion of a conveyor adapted to the automatic handling of biological material tubes along the entire system, highlighting the possibility of alternatively carrying out the dual task of unloading tubes from the conveyor to the store (for subsequently storing them) and loading tubes from the store to the conveyor (for redirecting the samples, along the conveyor, towards the appropriate testing modules).
Although the above apparatus is able, as mentioned, to carry out both the loading and the unloading operations, the device included therein and adapted to handle the test tubes, both in one direction and in the other, is a single robot able to carry out translational movements in three directions, thus reaching all the points necessary for the execution of the proper tube handling process.
It is understood that the above robot can alternatively handle either a loading or an unloading operation.
US-2005/013734, EP-1477813 and EP-1248170 show apparatuses for handling test tubes to/from a refrigerated store.